A record shop called Vinyl has opened in Tanner’s Hill, Deptford, which is a veritable treasure trove for vinyl junkies. With a cafe upstairs selling coffee, snacks & beers, the vinyl (and a few reluctantly displayed cd’s) are down in the basement area.

Opened a couple of months ago by Ronnie – previously the man behind Ambient Soho and Dragon Discs, the shop is becoming a haven for the local bohemians and muso’s – as well as anyone wanting a quick break and a coffee or beer.

The walls are covered in artworks by local artists, and there are a number of tables where punters can chill out – either indulging in that old-fashioned pastime of discussion, or staring into a screen…
If you come to check out the vinyl, you’ll find a great selection of everything from Rare Groove to bluegrass, and everything in between. Punters are provided with a deck and cans to check out their potential purchases. The records are all classified in proper sections, with a little note from the knowledgeable Ronnie about the vinyl inside the cover.

Geezer on the decks at Ronnie’s ‘Vinyl’ record shop / cafe on Sunday 2nd Feb.

Ronnie opened Vinyl at the same time as the last Deptford X Festival, and since then has been providing a venue for local spoken-word groups and acoustic sets from musicians; as well as regular DJ sets, such as a recent Funky Sunday Afternoon with Geezer (Guy McAffer) playing a selection of funk’s finest 7″” specials, and Bob from fantompowa some funky r&b…

Ronnie will be putting together a list of upcoming events for us – and the venue can be rented out for low-key performance or local interest-groups.

The shop/ cafe is in one of the oldest remaining streets from old Deptford, at the bottom of the hill that runs down from Lewisham Way to the Broadway – get down there, and support your local record shop… (Pictures by David Somerset, fiba)

The Reunion gig of various faces from the now-defunct South East Music Collective and Greenwich Music Collective took place at The Amersham Arms, New Cross on the 15th December 2013. It was organised after a drunken FB upload by drummer Andy Panai and guitarist Simon Birch (of the great Best Foot Forward, amongst others), which then became an outpouring of collective memory…

Tyrone Thomas with OCD at the Amersham Arms, SELMEC

OCD

Tyrone Thomas with OCD

Tyrone Thomas and his band Olympic ClampDown… Tyrone, who played with Nu Ingliss Languish in SELMEC (and the Three Key Sound and fantompowa since then; also guitarist with Paradise 9) did a set with his comrade Colin on bass and ; accompanied by Brain of Morbius / Bert Shaft Orchestra keyboard wizard, Elwell, and by OCD’s drummer and violinist. Also playing were The Bulbous Skunk Cabbages – represented by their stalwart Pete, as well as various ex-members and one of the wonderful Sheep on Drugs…

We were also treated to a set from the great Your Heterosexual Violence, with Woolwich bard Brian chanting out all their greatest hits with various ex-members including Paul Hood – more known in recent years for his avant-garde music and releases, but showing that he could still pump out a good bass line…

A night of controlled chaos and good grooves, seeing old familiar faces from another time – that’s gone full circle…Peckham Palais hosted a night of bands and music featuring artists, singers and players who had all started on the road to now in the Peckham Dolehouse back in the day (1989-91).The Sea, RDF, Dread Messiah, Back to the Planet (Fil, Guy, Alex, Karl, Fraggle and Henry) played downstairs; upstairs the throng were treated to some stonkin’ Acid Techno from the ones that made it happen then – and are still rocking the custard now . . . headlining were Dave the Drummer and Geezer . . .

Amongst the many faces popping out from the strobes, lasers and general mayhem were Bev (without whom it would not have happened ) and the REKNAW crew, Andy, Keith, Marshal, Bif, Megan and, of course, the world’s greatest surviving Greek South East Londoner Big Al – who made at least one crowd-pleasing appearance onstage (with BTTP)

A wicked night at the Peckham Palais on Rye Lane on Friday 25th January 2013, with the Virus Sound System. Highlight of our evening was Geezer (Guy McAffer’s ) set when he blasted the techno room with his new set, straight back from a tour of Australia.
For us the real highspot was seeing the crowd go crazy when he unleashed the new tune we did together with him, that is due for release on RAW records (as a vinyl single) sometime soon. We’ll keep you updated !
Thanx for the wicked night, folks . . .

Both Dadawas and Government Man are tunes done in the original Geezer studio at New Cross Road with Guy McAffer on the controls and vocal contributions from 3 Key Sound‘s Tony Hippolyte. Remixed and remonstered at the new Geezer Bell Green Studio by Guy with JH and BB of the fantompowa posse.

This Friday 22nd July sees another fine Steve Elwell promotion. The gig features a live set from One True Dog who are launching a new album on the night. Also featured are dr Marias all the way from Hungary (so that bus ride is not so far after all).

The gig is at the old police station in New Cross which is a DIY art space and a new exhibition also starts that night. Check their site for more info.

This mix starts and ends with Smiley’s two best known singles; the sadly ironic Police Officer, and the Smiley by-name-and-nature Cockney Translation.

Other highlights are the ganja section with Barrington Levy and John Holt in full Greensleeves effect, threatening to burn down the cane fields.

Also included are personal favourites Lorna Gee’sThree Week Gone – a very Thatcher-era story of life under the bad old regime, with a healthy sense of humour – and Eastwood and Saint’scelebration of the vegi life.

All the tunes come from original 12’s that have seen plenty of life at gigs many moons ago, hence the somewhat scratchy nature of some of them. I still feel the tunes shine through so left them in.

Stay tuned for Part Two with a host of Greensleeves and Live & Love selections, including plenty of Frankie Paul.

On a recent web trawl (while re-watching the excellent Dub Echoes Film by Bruno Natal/Soul Jazz Records) I came across the Mikus Musik Blogspot. To my joy it has a page with streams of old Manasseh and Joey Jay Kiss FM radio shows, from the days you could still hear heavyweight rockers on the FM band. The site is well worth a visit; check the dub page as well as the Jungle, D&B, soul/funk pages that are all stuffed with mixes. Well worth a visit and a listen.

Gil Scott-Heron died on the afternoon of May 27, 2011, at St. Luke’s Hospital, New York City, after becoming sick upon returning from a European trip.

Despite Gil’s genius – as a writer, poet and musician – his life was one of struggle; against his past, against prejudice, and for the people on the street whom he always identified with – and spoke out for – in his books and on his records.

A sign of his good heart in the midst of a chaotic personal life was his gig at a down-at-heel music pub in South East London a few years ago.

His manager turned up at the Goldsmith’s Tavern in New Cross with Gil, who was ‘looking for something to get me sorted out’. In those days, it didn’t take long, and in the wait for the deal to be sorted, the manager was talking to the resident soundman at the the time, Bevan B.

After Bevan suggested that Gil could ‘do a spot’ down at the Goldsmiths, Gil looked around, at the punks, students, squatters and ravers, the peeling paint and the low-cloud effect of marijuana smoke hanging over the dancefloor, and declared ‘This is my sort of place !’

He played a blinding gig the next night, and all who were there will remember the genius who took his spirit from his struggle, and could turn it into the most moving, liberating music with a poetry that informed and inspired – a real star who never ‘sold his ass to The Man’.

Although he never reaped the riches from the enormous effect that he had on popular culture, his legacy will be understood, like most great artists, through the long span of history; but his humanity, intelligence, and spirit of resistance will be missed by many around the world . . . .

Music from the ice region indeed. The latest reggae show features the mighty Misty in Roots. Kicking off with See Them a Come from Live at the Counter Eurovision perhaps the greatest live album ever; which begs the question why this album is not available in any format today. With even second-hand copies of the CD fetching silly prices surely the time is right for this be given the full heavyweight repress. Lets start a campaign – if only I had a facebook account! The mix also contains the People Unite original twelve inch mix of Poor and Needy and Economical Slavery from the Musi-O-Tunya album.

The Misty selections seemed to set the tone for the rest of this mix that contains a mix of original and repressed tunes from the rootsy end of things.

There are of course the obligatory King Tubby selections from Inna Fine Style’s twisted version of Ronnie Davis and a couple of sides from a recently released box of repressed sevens called Tubby’s Box of Dub – track it down it is a treasure trove of tunes well sorted inna seven inch style.

I was also keen to include the title track from Keith Hudson, originally on the Rasta Communication album in a purely vocal fashion only and now available on a new 12 out of New York featuring previously unavailable dub cuts.

The show ends with the full force original twelve inches of Mikey Dread’s Roots and Culture on Dread at the Controls clocking in at 18 minutes of bass heavy rockers.

Just to let you know that the Trip Team DJ’s 3keybob and Claire have been added to the bill for the Shopping Trolley Promotions night at the Montague Arms on Friday 3rd June.

We will be playing the usual mix of R’nB, soul, ska, reggae, latin and anything else that seems appropriate at the time. We will of course be seeing how long we can get away with playing after midnight. (There is always one more tune you just have to play).

The gig features Polka who will be traveling considerably further than us given they are coming from Berlin. So that bus ride is not so far.

Steve Elwell‘s night is always entertaining and in the most surreal venue in London, well worth a visit. Bring your dancing shoes !